Like many of the richest traditions of our literary heritage, the origins of the story of the phoenix are lost in antiquity. As it has come to us through the ages, the phoenix lore is a kind of composite of Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythology. It is a part of that vast store of ancient metaphysics that made an attempt to explain understandably those abstract and intangible forces and ideals of life which have become the foun- dation stones of our civilization.

The phoenix is said to have been a large and magnificent bird, much like an eagle, with gorgeous red and golden plumage. The Greek word “phoenix” means “bright-colored.” It is first known to have been sacred to the Egyptian sun god, Ra, and was especially worshiped at Heliopolis in Egypt. Apparently, then, from the very beginning, the phoenix was associated with the sun.

According to tradition, however, the phoenix lived not in Egypt but in Arabia, which was indeed a land of the sun. The bird was always male and was reputed to live for 500 years. Never more than one phoenix was alive at a time. During its long life the phoenix strove ever sunward, but, as its span of life was nearing an end, it built a large nest of twigs of spice trees and myrrh. Then the phoenix set the nest on fire and was consumed by the flames. Out of the ashes came forth

another phoenix, as beautiful and strong as the old, to live another 500 years. As soon as the young phoenix reached maturity, he took up the remaining ashes of his father, covered them with spices and flew to Heliopolis in Egypt, where he deposited them with reverence on the altar of the sun.

Thus the phoenix, born of fire out of the ashes, became the symbol of resurrection and eternal life. To the Hellenic Greeks the phoenix represented ever- lasting life, and by Hellenistic times it came to signify glory and might of majesty as well. The Romans were ardent in their veneration of the phoenix, and they saw in it a promise of life after death, which had meant so much to the ancient Egyptians. In the second century after the death of Christ, early Christian theologians, keenly aware of the powerful attraction of the idea of the phoenix, attempted to transmute the symbol of the phoenix to the symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

To this day there is no more powerful aspiration of mankind than the hope and promise of eternal life. Out of the rich traditions of antiquity from which the Fraternity draws much of its inspiration, the phoenix is the finest symbol of the permanence and everlasting qualities of fraternity.

"The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe."

- John Walter Wayland. Virginia, 1899

Brother Hero

Brother Nero

Brother Zero

Eminent Supreme Archon

Eminent Supreme Deputy Archon

Eminent Supreme Warden

Eminent Supreme Herald

Eminent Supreme Chronicler

Honorary Supreme Archon

Pledge Class President: Alex Hunt

Pledge Class Vice-President: Justing Satig

Pledge Class Treasurer: Andre Cabrales

Pledge Class Recorder: Christian Meissner

Pledge Class Social Chair: Cameron Peters

Alex Hunt

Alex Ortega

Andre Cabrales

Brady Webb

Cameron Peters

Christian Meissner

Dylan Hutchinson

Ilme Obisye

James Carney

Joseph Freitas

Justin Catig

Justyn Lopez

Nich Beach

Reetinder Brar

Tyler Perry

NNJSWAT

Noble Leslie DeVotie

Nathan Elams Cockrell

John Webb Kerr

John Barratt Rududlph

Samuel Marion Dennis

Wade Hampton Foster

Abner Edwin Patton

Thomas Chappell Cook

Gamma Phi Sigma

(GPS)

Eppy Santiago

Alberto Guitierrez

Beta Theta Pi - ΒΘΠ

Alpha Tau Omega – ΑΤΩ

Alpha Sigma Phi (colony)- AΣΦ*

Delta Sigma Phi – ΔΣΦ

Delta Upsilon – ΔΥ

Kappa Sigma – ΚΣ

Pi Kappa Alpha – ΠΚΑ**

Pi Kappa Phi (colony)– ΠΚΦ

Sigma Alpha Epsilon – ΣΑΕ

Sigma Chi – ΣΧ

Sigma Nu – ΣΝ

Sigma Pi – ΣΠ

Theta Chi – ΘΧ

* Coming Fall 2014

**Suspended until Aug. 2013

Alpha Omicron Pi – ΑΟΠ

Alpha Phi – ΑΦ

Alpha Xi Delta – ΑΞΔ

Delta Gamma – ΔΓ

Delta Zeta – ΔΖ

Kappa Delta – ΚΔ

ome sing to Sigma Alpha Epsilon
And to Minerva who will lead us on
And to Phi Alpha with its guiding light
And to the lion who will fight, fight, fight
And when in years to come, we’ll tell our sons
About the very best fraternity
We’ll sing of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Swing along
With ΣΑΕ.
Hail to the purple, hail to the Gold,
Hail to Phi Alpha, motto of old.
Minerva’s true, the lions great,

the loyal son's of San Jose State!

(4)

The Lion

The Fleur-de-lis

The Phoenix

Minerva

Royal Purple

Old Gold

Sigma

Alpha

Epsilon

Name all the positions on the supreme council.

(HINT: There are 7 positions)

Eminent Supreme Archon

Eminent Supreme Deputy Archon

Eminent Supreme Warden

Eminenet Supreme Herald

Eminent Supreme Chronicler

Eminent Supreme Recorder

Honorary Supreme Archon

There is a story from the civil war that explains an act of loyalty and devotion so astonishing to lead to the only woman member of the fraternity. Kentucky Chi was only a few months old when the war came, filled with outstanding young cadets like John B. Kent. Nearby the K.M.I. campus was the home of the Pattie family, where the young men could escape from the strains of military discipline. The Patties had three children, of whom Kent and others were all friends with. Kent loved to talk with Lucy Pattie about his fraternity, and she loved to listen. When the war began, the military institute emptied, and Kent was among the last to leave. Kent had been given the task of attending to the fraternities papers, containing information about ritual, constitution, and business of the chapter. As the day drew nearer for him to leave, he felt more strongly the need to provide for the care of these documents. He finally determined to entrust them to young "Miss Lucy," who he knew would keep and protect them through the time of war. She promised to keep them "where neither friend nor foe might find them."

The years passed, but Lucy never forgot her promise to Kent. Word came to Lucy of Kent’s death in the cruel charge at Shiloh. When the war finally ended, young, new faces returned to K.M.I., and Kentucky Chi was revived. Many men tried to talk to Miss Lucy about the secret papers, but she adamantly refused to hand them over until one of the cadets would give her the proper grip of the hand. Finally, a young man named Albert McMahan gave her the grip, and she returned the documents unharmed. She had been faithful to her trust.

The gratitude and delight of the young brothers at her devotion and care of their ritual and other private papers was so great that they voted Lucy Pattie a member of the fraternity and gave her the badge.

The badge of the Fraternity is diamond-shaped, a little less than an inch long and bears on a background of nazarene blue enamel. At the top are the greek letters "ΣAE" in gold. In the middle the badge is Minerva taming a lion that is crouching at her feet. Below are the letters Phi Alpha on a white ground in a wreath. 

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1. Minerva's Shield

2. The Spiritual Heritage of Sigma Alpha Epsilon

3. The Fraternity Laws

4. Recruitment Posters & Brochures

5. The Phoenix

Non-Secret Formal Pledging Ceremony &

Memorial Service

"Ruins of the Parthanon" 

Athens, Greece

sae.net

thetgi.net

Eminent Archon: Ryan Morgado

Eminent Deputy Archon: DaMarlynn Wright

Eminent Treasurer: Jayme Gaunt

Eminent Recorder: Christian Velasquez

Pledge Educator: Bobby Dupree

Eminent Warden: Kota Yamazaki

Risk Manager: Kyle Suddarth